Feed-changing mechanism



E.C. HEAD.

FEED CHANGING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 10, I917- Patnted June 8, 19m.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

E.-C. HEAD.

FEED CHANGING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. I0, 1917- NM 5 illlllllllllllllllllllllllllll Patented June 8, 1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2- ATTORNEYS E. C. HEAD.

FEED CHANGING MECHANISM.-

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 10, 1917.

1 343,} 320 Patented June 8, 19m

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

l/Vl/ENTOR man/ms inuran stares raranr c ERNEST G. HEAD, OF VAN WERT, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TOCOLBU'RN MACHINE TOOL 1 COMPANY, OF FRANKLIN, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYL- VANIA.

FEED-CHANGING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 8., 1926 Application filed November 10, 1917. Serial No. 201,245.

in a machine tool, in combination with change-speed gearing including a plurality of gear members adapted by their selective actuation to drive a shaft at a plurality of speeds, simplified mechanism for actuating said gear members whereby to secure said plurality of speeds.

Another object of this invention is to provide in a machine tool, in combination with a plurality of change gears related in series in the feed train thereof and comprising a plurality of shiftable gear members, a single cam element for shifting said gear members into simultaneously operative positions.

Other objects of the invention relate to the provision of gear-actuating mechanism of the type in question which is compact in structure, efficientin operation and easy of manipulation.

The invention broadly considered comprises, in combination with a driven shaft of a machine tool, change-speed gearing including change-gears operatively related in series and comprising a plurality of shiftable gear members adapted by their selective actuation to drive said shaft at different speeds, a single cam and'operative connections between said cam and said gear members, whereby upon rotation of said cam said gear members are selectively moved into simultaneously-operative positions. In the preferred embodiment of said invention, said gear members are separately shiftable and each of said members is provided with a gear-shifting element operatively connected with said cam. Means are also preferably provided for indicating the position of said gear members.

The invention is capable of receiving a variety of mechanical expressions, one of which is shown on the accompanying drawings, but it is to be expressly understood that the drawingsare for purposes of illustration only and are not to be construed" as a definition of the limits of the invention, reference being had to the appended claims for that purpose.

In said drawings Figure 1 is an elevation of the main operative elements of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a face view of the actuating camshifting elements;

Fig. 6 is an elevation of the case or box in which the speed-changing mechanism is located; I

Fig. 7 is an'end View of said box with a portion broken away to expose the elements contained therein; and

Fig. 8 is an elevation of the change-speed t gearing, the elements thereof which form a part of or immediately cooperate with the present invention being indicated by surface shading denoting gear teeth, and the gearshifting elements being shown displaced for the sake .of clearness.

Referring in detail to said drawings, wherein the same reference characters are employed to designate corresponding parts in the several figures, 1 is the driving shaft of a speed-changing gear train of any suitable construction mounted within the box or case 2; Fixed on said shaft 1, in the form shown, aretwo gears 3 and 4:. Within said box and parallel to said shaft 1 is a shaft 5 having splined thereto a plurality of gear members. One of said gear members comprises gears 6 and 7 shiftable upon shaft 5 to engage gears 3 or i, respectively. The other of said gear members comprises gears 8 and 9 shiftable upon shaft 5 to engage gears 10 or 11 respectively, said last-named gears being fixedly mounted on a shaft 12 shown as independent of but in alinement with drive shaft 1. Connected to gear 10 is a second gear 13 meshing with a gear 14 car- Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are details of the gearried'by a shaft 15. In the embodiment of parallel to and inclose proximity to the 65 the invention illustrated on the drawings,

.said shaft 15 is a driving shaft in the feed train of a machine tool and may have associated therewith suitable clutch mechanism 16 for driving said shaft 15 from the gear 1 1. in the gear train heretofore described or from a rapid traverse drive 17 such, for

example, as. fully disclosed in my application 'Seria lfNo. 201,246, filed November 10,

It will therefore be observed that shaft 15 may be driven from shaft -1 through any one of four trains of gears, i, 6., gears 3, 6, 9, 11 (as shown in Fig. 8) gears 3, 6, 8, 10; gears 4;, 7, 9, 11; andge'ars 4:, 7, 8, 10.

In accordance with the present invention,

new and improved mechanism is provided for shifting said shiftable gear members to' any of their respective positionswhereby said shaft 15' may be selectively driven through any onev of the four gear. trains before enumerated. In the form shown in Fig. 1, two longitudinally slidable rods 18. and.19 are mounted in the box 2 adjacenti and parallel to the front face thereof, "Carried by the rod 18 is a jaw or gear-engaging element 20 designed to engage and move gear 7 and therebyshift the gear member of which it forms a part. Carried by the rod 19 is a jaw or gear-engaging'element21 designed to engage and move gear 9 and thereable cover 30 which constitutes the front face eye 25. i

by shift the gear member of whichit forms as secured to rod 18 by pin 22'and provided with an eye 23 which receives the rod 19,

whereby 'rod' 18 'andelement20 move tog as applied to the actuation of the shiftable gether while rod 19 slides freely through the eye 23; Gear-engaging element 21 is shown as secured to rod 19 by pin 24 and provided with an eye 25 which receives the-rod 18, whereby rod 19 and element 21 move to? gether while rod 18 slides freely through'the F or shifting said gear-engaging elements 20 and 21-,-a disk 26 is mounted for rotation within said box'2, preferably adjacent the front face thereof, and provided in-its rear face with a cam groove 27. While thecam thus provided by the disk 26 -is shown as a groove in the face thereof, it is to be expressly understood that the invention is not re stricted to a cam of thattype but that, by obvious modification, said disk may be substituted by a disk provided with a cam ridge or acam face. Said disk 26 is carried by an arbor 28 'having'a' bearing 29in the removof said box 2. Attached to the outer end of arbor 28 is suitable operating means, as a.

crank 31, which may be'provided with a plunger 32 operated by a knurledhandle 33- and designed to engage holes in the index 34. The grooved face of .disk 26 is shown as longitudinally movablerods 18 and 19 and is therefore closely adjacent thegear-engaging 26 with a roller3 5 adapted to engage within the cam groove 27, Thereby gear-engaging element 20 is operated d rectly by said cam,

Pivotallymounted within the box 2, as. by

the bolt 36, is a bell-crank lever having two arms 37 and'38, the former of which carries a roller- 39 adapted to engage the aforesaid cam groove 27. Arm 38 isforked-at itsouter end as shown at4c0 and'embraces a pin 11 on a collar 42 rigidly secured-to rod 19.

, Gear-engaging element 2-1'is therefore indirectly operated by said cam.

B' rotation. of the crank 31 to engage plunger 32 with anyone of the four holes designated 1 2 3",? and 4 on the index34, cam disk 26 with-its cam groove 27 is rotated-to-occupy any one of four posi tions, 7 ,Rotation of this cam directly engages and shifts: the gear-engaging element 20 and one of the four gear trains heretofore'described. I

It willtherefore, be seen that a gear-shifting mechanism comprismg-a minimum numindirectly-engages and shifts thev gear enber of parts has been'provided, and one that is exceedingly simple and compact in-construction, and easy of manipulation.

While the invention has been described gear members of the feed'train of a machine tool, it is to be'expressly understood thatthe invention is not. limited to such an application but has utility in other connections whereina plurality of shiftable gear members are to'be selectively actuated to secure has been described with considerable particularity, is to be expressly understood 'that the invention is not restricted to the precise details'shown but is' capable of receiv nga varleyof mechanical expressions some of which will readily suggest them-- selves to those-skill ed' in the art, while certain elements thereof are capable of use without other elements thereof; ,Riaferfence is therefore to be had to the claims hereto appended I for the invention.

What is claimed is;:

1. A feed-changing mechanism for ma chine tools comprising,in combination with a plurahty; of change gears operatively related in series. in the feed train thereof and a definition of .the'limits ofincluding a plurality of gear members shiftable to engage other gears thereof, a single cam, and operative connections between said cam and said gear members for shifting the same.

2. A feed-changing mechanism for machine'tools comprising, in combination with a plurality of simultaneously operative groups of operatively-related gears in the feed train thereof, a portion of each group of gears being shiftable to engage other gears thereof, a single cam, and operative connections between said cam and the shiftable portion of the gears of each of said groups for shifting the same.

3. A feed-changing mechanism for machine tools comprising, in combination with a plurality of chan e-gears operatively related in series in the feed train thereof and including a plurality of gear members shiftable to engage other gears thereof, a single cam, operative connections between said cam and said gear members for shifting the same, means to rotate said cam, and means to indicate the position of said shiftable gear members.

4:. A feed-changing mechanism for machine tools comprising, in combinationwith a plurality of change-gears operatively related in series in the feed train thereof and including a plurality of gear members shiftable to engage other gears thereof, a single cam, and a plurality of gear-shifting elements operated by said cam, each of said gear-shifting elements being operatively lgonnected to one of said shiftable gear memers.

5. A feed-changing mechanism for machine tools comprising, in combination with a plurality of operatively-related gears in the feed train thereof including a plurality of gear members shiftable to engage other gears thereof, a single cam, a plurality of gear-shifting elements operatively connected to said shiftable gear members,- and means intermediate said cam and said gearshifting elements whereby certain of said elements are operated directly by said cam and other of said elements operated indirectly by said cam.

6. A feed-changing mechanism for machine tools comprising, in combination with a plurality of change-gears operatively related in series in the feed train thereof and including a plurality of gear members shiftable to engage other gears thereof, a single cam, and a gear-shifting element for each of said geartmembers separately operated by said cam.

7 In a machine tool, change gears operatively related in series and comprising a plurality of shiftable gear members, a single cam, and operative connections between each of said gear members and said cam .whereby rotation of said cam selectively shifts said gear members.

8. In a machine tool, change-speed gearing comprising a plurality of shiftable gear members, a single cam, a gear-shifting element for each of said shiftable gear members, and means intermediate said cam and said elements whereby certain of said elements are operated directly by said cam and other of said elements operated indirectly by said cam.

9. In a machine tool, change-speed gearing comprising a plurality of simultaneously-operative groups of gears a portion of each group being shiftable, a single cam, and operative connections between said cam and the shiftable gears of each group.

10. In a machine tool, change gears operatively related in series and comprising a plurality of shiftable gear members, asingle cam, and a' plurality of gear-shifting elements separately operated by said cam, each of said gear-shifting elements being operatively connected to one of said shiftable gear members.

11. In a machine tool, change-speed gearing comprising a plurality of shiftable gear members, a single cam, a gear-shifting element operatively connected to one of said gear members and directly operated by said cam, a second gear-shifting element operatively connected to a second of said gear members, and a lever connection intermediate-said cam and said second gear-shifting element. I

12. In a machine tool, change-speed gearing comprising a plurality of shiftable gear members, a single cam mounted for rotationadjacent said gear members, a gear-shifting element directly engaged by said cam and operatively connected to one of said gear members, and a second gear-shifting element adjacent said cam and indirectly operated thereby, said second gear-shifting element being operatively connected to a second of said gear members.

13. In a machine tool, change-speed gearing comprising a plurality of shiftable gear members, a single cam, parallel rods adjacent said cam, a gear-shifting element operatively connected to each of said gear members, each of said elements being connected to one of said rods and mounted on but freely movable with respect to the other of said rods, and operative connections intermediate said gear-shifting elements and said cam.

14:. In a machine tool, a driven shaft, change-speed gearing including a plurality of gear members adapted by thelr selective actuation to drive said shaft at different speeds, a single cam, and operative connections between said cam and each of said gear members whereby said gear members are selectively moved to simultaneously-operative tween saidcam and. the respective gear mempos'itions. bers whereby rotation of said cam shifts the 15. In a machine'tool, change speed gearrespective gear members into their several 10 ing comprising a plurality of simultaneoperative positions. o

5 ously operative gear members which have a In testimony whereof I have signed this plurality of operative positions, a single rospecification. r tatable cam, and operative connections be- ERNEST C. HEAD. 

